One Coin One Brick: A journey to remember

By Nguyen Bao Khanh

Publicity co-head of One Coin One Brick team
Year 2, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences


My journey with One Coin One Brick (OCOB) started three months ago with an email I received from Bich Hong, the project director, where she shared about her fund-raising initiative and asked if I would like to participate in the project.

My first impression was the novelty of the idea. It took me a while to decide as I had a very busy semester then. Looking back, I am glad that I went ahead to join OCOB as it is now one of the most meaningful projects I had ever taken part.

Organised by the NUS Vietnamese Students' Subcommittee, the aim is to make a model of a classroom entirely out of 50-cent coins. It is part of the group's fund-raising activities for the Vietnam JUMP project to raise S$15,000 for the construction of a musical and a medical room for a local kindergarten for needy children in Quang Nam province, Vietnam.



Three months ago, our group of about 10 people had a whole lot of uncertainties about whether we would be able to complete the model with 3000 coins. At the end, we had 40 members in our team, all taking turns to man the booth during the road show. From the original plan of a two-day road show , we finally secured six days spanning five locations around NUS.

At the closing ceremony, we witnessed our final classroom model made up of 5,258 cent coins being certified a new Singapore record by the Singapore Book of Records. S$1521.05 was raised and transferred to the Vietnam Jump project, something we would not have dreamt of three months ago.


ONE COIN ONE BRICK TEAM: The group proudly showing their Singapore Book of Records certificate for their winning model More than that, it is the story behind that made OCOB an unforgettable journey. I still remember the debate we had over the coin model. The candid discussion ended up with not only the team's consensus to follow the better design, but we also achieved a better understanding among the team members, as we discovered how passionate we all were about the project.

The road show comprised the best part of OCOB. During those six days, the model was carried, by hand and on foot, to five different locations in NUS. Three times it collapsed during transportation. Four times the team met up to rebuild it, which ultimately turned into overnight team bonding sessions filled with fun and unforgettable moments for the whole team.

On reflection, OCOB was a great project to be in, having the experience to learn how to overcome challenges, plus we also had fun working on the project. It was a refreshing break from my academic commitments, and it enriched my fourth semester in NUS with new friendships, new memories and a new-found motivation to embark on future community projects.